MANHATTAN — When Brad Underwood got off the Stephen F. Austin football charter Friday, he noticed the impact construction — both finished and proposed — plays within the power-five conferences.

Underwood knows Kansas State. The McPherson native played basketball for the Wildcats. He coached the game, too, as a member of Frank Martin’s staff. When Martin left for South Carolina, Underwood tagged along.

So it was easy for Underwood, a 1986 K-State grad, to detect upgrades that made the Little Apple outgrow its bite-size wrapper.

His primary view of intercollegiate athletics is from another angle. Within the Southland Conference. Home to the FCS Lumberjacks. And, home to an NCAA Tournament qualifier Underwood directed in basketball last season. A program on the rise and capable of challenging power-five aristocrats, both in nonconference play and in March.

“There’s now a national perception of us,” Underwood said. “We’ve become a team that’s not going to surprise anybody. We’ve definitely got a bull’s-eye on our back. We’ve gotten opportunities to play on national television and play in some of the premiere events in great venues. With that comes some confidence. We did it with hard work. We’re not going to change the formula for what’s successful.”

The college elitists, despite their quest for autonomy, are satisfied with the postseason tournament structure in basketball.

Smaller conferences, such as the Southland, receive automatic berths and provide bracket darlings for the NCAA Tournament field. No changes are projected with that arrangement.

However, in football, the sport that pushes the needle, the separation between haves and have-nots is widening. An FCS program can make a splash, much like North Dakota State did last season by stunning K-State on opening weekend, but is then left to play in what was once categorized as I-AA.

Stephen F. Austin, which went 3-9 last season and is now led by a new coach, Clint Conque, will seek an upset Saturday. Yet it faces overwhelming odds against the only FBS opponent on its schedule.

In basketball, Stephen F. Austin likes to play big boys (Memphis is confirmed this season), though bids to the NCAA Tournament have been elusive, even if the Dance is all-inclusive.

The 32-3 run for the Lumberjacks last season resulted in just their second NCAA Tournament appearance. They beat VCU to extend their winning streak to 29 before falling to UCLA, a blueblood with 100-plus wins in the NCAAs.

“In basketball, from our perspective, we’re continuing to grow our program, and we are at the same level as Texas and Texas A&M and Baylor,” Underwood said. “We play on the same stage. To me, that’s what the beauty of March Madness was, and beating Virginia Commonwealth.

“Five, six, seven years ago, they were at where we are at now. It propelled their program into a top-20 program and to me, that’s what the college experience is about. It’s what makes basketball so special, to see a Butler, and with Wichita State, with players and programs that aren’t in the big-time conferences achieve success because they have high-character kids, talented kids, kids that become juniors and seniors.”

Like every coach affected by whatever revisions are implemented stemming from the power-five power grab, Underwood monitors the situation.

He does not know how everything will shake out. No one does. But he stresses that even at the biggest schools with the greatest resources, all but a fraction of college athletes generate revenue. The definition of a student-athlete, he said, is sometimes lost in all the discussions.

“I’m not a fan of the direction it’s going,” Underwood said. “I hate that we’re so driven by the almighty dollar, but time will tell.”

All Underwood can do is coach. He did so well enough in his first season at SFA to merit a new eight-year contract.

The possibility exists that Underwood could move on — maybe into a power-five conference — some day. But he likes the support, the culture and the spirit he tapped into in Nacogdoches.

Enough that he is eager to tell friends about it while visiting his alma mater as a fan of football, the sport that has prompted so much change on the college landscape.

In case you’re wondering, “I’m rooting for the team in purple,” Underwood said.